Aleah Chapin Listening in the Dark, 2018

This characteristically hyperreal self-portrait is by American painter Aleah Chapin, described by artist Eric Fischl as ‘the best and most disturbing painter of flesh today.’  Her work explores aging, gender and beauty, in part influenced by the community she was raised in on an island in the Pacific Northwest. Consistent throughout her career, Chapin’s work asks the question: What does it mean to exist within a body today?   

Chapin holds a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. She has attended residencies at the Leipzig International Art Program (Germany) and MacDowell (United States). Chapin has exhibited both nationally and internationally at places such as Flowers Gallery (New York, London, Hong Kong), The Belvedere Museum (Austria), and the National Portrait Gallery (London). She has been a recipient of the Promising Young Painters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (New York), the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant (Canada), a Postgraduate Fellowship from the New York Academy of Art, and won the 2012 BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery (London). Her work has been published extensively in print and online, and she is a subject in the BBC documentary titled “Portrait of an Artist”. Aleah Chapin lives and works in Seattle, WA.